[Info-vax] Don't worry, HP's project Moonshot will save us

[chris]

On 04/12/13 00:43, MG wrote:
> On 12-apr-2013 1:18, chris wrote:
>> I still have a copy of the digital "Super Micro Systems" handbook,
>> from around 1985 ? or so, if I remember the title right. And yes,
>> there is much grey hair, though whether due to years of toil with
>> computer systems or something else, has yet to be determined :-)...
>
> No grey hair here. For some inexplicable reason, somehow, I always
> found it interesting to read into (especially) these subjects and ---
> by having done so --- have learned a great about things that took
> place long before I was even conceived.
>
> It's sad, yet also very understandable, why not more of (roughly)
> my age (and especially below) show no interest for VMS or any
> other of these 'legacy platforms'. But, it has nothing to do
> with VMS itself. That can't be stressed enough in my opinion.
>
> - MG
>

Development pace was ragged edge and exciting when I first started
in computing and there were new developments and applications every
week. Now, everything has coalesced down to commodity and there's been
no real development in decades, just continuous refinement of existing
technology. You have a pc on your desk, you no longer need to get the
soldering iron or wire wrap gun out to build a custom interface. Just
buy it off the shelf at a fraction of the cost and effort. As the hardware
becomes commodity, the interfaces become more abstract and high level.
Fewer people know or need to know the low level stuff and end up seeing
only a fraction of the big picture.

Might also be something to do with  lack of scientific curiosity in the
young. Computing, electronics and the sciences are no longer "fashionable"
enough, but it's just that prowess that has give the west it's competitive
advantage for decades...

Chris